Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

watch out here come the Lancaster bombers..........

As usual great blog Tom. It was very interesting to get the "fly on the wall" view of the England warm up.

It is far removed from my preparation as a player (many years ago). A schooner of medium sherry, 10 minutes prior to kick off, for Wilmslow 2nd XV.

proper hairs on the back of your neck stuff.

love it. Great blog.

Interesting stuff. Caffeine seems quite popular, I always wondered if drinking energy drinks was a good idea, fearing a short term rush and being even more knackered by the end of the match. Anyway, it is very different to my preparation.

Normally I arrive 10 minutes before kick-off wondering why those whiskeys seemed like such a good idea at 2 in the morning. I get screamed at by the coach, get changed quickly, stagger onto the pitch only 10 seconds before kick-off, then I blow my whistle and the game begins.

Great blog mate, a real change that one.

I would need about six pairs of clean shorts and a couple of rolls of Andrex before I even reached the tunnel personally.

essence of good writing = to feel like you were there. this blog succeeds!

yes very different to coarse rugby, which sometimes involved introducing players' to late recruits signed up in pubs 14-15 hours previously! one of my favourites occured when the groundstaff at our place decided to take the crossbars down as they thought it was the end of the season, so we had to string a length of rope between each set of posts...

Great blog Tom! Dripping with the raw emotion of competitive sport.

This so reminded me of what I loved playing competitive team sport. Those in the changing room that joked and laughed, and those (like myself) that needed to get psyched up and into a zone. The level here is different, but I'm sure there's amateur sportsmen and women everywhere that can relate to these emotions.

Really good blog. And #4 - class!

This preparation is a little different from mine when I was captain of a very lowly side. Firstly I read out the team which had to be changed immediately. Some whingers would want to start on the wing or fullback in the hope of avoiding action too soon. There was one who was a prop but talked me into letting him start at fullback. It was only when the opposition kicked of and the ball went straight to him and he let it go into touch when he could have very easily caught it, that I realised he was still smoking. Most of my team were only there for the beer afterwards and ofter tried to talk the ref into reducing the playing time. A lot of laughs and good memories, not all like above.

Good blog. Should be a great game.

I think England get uneasy\nervous when playing Ireland. There must be a mental block or something. Take last year for example...England on for a grand slam playing great rugby and then once they showed up in Dublin they were like a different team and completely choked. Its a strange one. 7 out of 8 wins for Ireland in the 6N.

, jamesmathew

They didnt choke, they were choked.............literally

@smacheyes. lol
but seriously...Ireland are have not been a better team then England for the last 8 years, far from it. There must be some mental block over the English players. Maybe fear!

"moodini" my eye - you can't hide your true identity that easily, Mr Rolland.

Same as it appears France have one with England, Wc being the exception lately

Ya...its strange when one team gets some mental block with another team and get totally dominated.
Ireland over England
England over France
France over Ireland
Everyone over Scotland

jamesmathew

Yeah the last bit is a tad sad though, wish Ritchie Gray played for England he looks a class act

Actually, thinking about it, much of this seems like my pre match warm up before England matches. Except they dont have to physically restrain their kids in an effort to remove them from the xbox in time for the national anthem.

Also no mention of having to call in a plasterer to remove finger holes that are left due to me clinging to the ceiling in rage. Apart from that, quite a factual article.

It's all a very long way from the "coarse" rugby classics...the forwards having a smoke at half-time and passing around a bottle of rum...the winger leaving the field to be sick after a 50 yard sprint.

Great blog and really interesting. Let's hope on Saturday that Paul O'Connell can keep his pre-match talk to the basics. The news of his pre-match rabble-rouser last year really soured things in my view. If an England captain came out with similar stuff in reverse he could easily found himself prosecuted for hate crimes!

Yes JM, England have one knack more than any other team, winning in Paris, Wales have done it 3 times in 30 years is it? and they were all in a little group at the turn of the milenium. Scotland twice. Ireland can't do it for anything.

Its just a shame we can't beat the Irish anymore.

But the nice thing about England Wales is there is no mental block at all, we ain't scared of each other, the best team wins.

Ooo! Tom, this hits the spot! I always get butterflies before an England match. Nowhere near the intensity the players feel of course. To have an insight into how they feel is going to heighten the experience significantly. When they played France I was sitting in the house by myself except for the two labradors. At try time, the dogs thought I'd gone bananas. They looked really worried. This time I'll be there and perhaps the dogs will have a quieter day.

Tom, great article. Please could we have more like this. As rugby fans most of us at one time played the game so we know that the pre-match, the nerves, the build up and what goes on in the changing room is just as big to the total rugby experience as the game itself.
How about some detailed blogs on the different positions e.g. front row, back row, half backs etc. It would be great to hear from the players after a game what had been their concerns, or objectives going into the game and how things worked out in the game. I would love to know players opinions on why the scrums were really collapsing, or what was going on in the line out, or the pros and cons of different defensive patterns etc. Lets hear more about the things we can't see with our own eyes from watching the game. Thanks.

Great article!! Amazed to hear about so much caffeine is in the dressing room!! Good to hear the lads can enjoy the atmosphere at times as well!!

Like most people on here I'm surprised by the amount of caffeine consumed. I was always warned off the stuff being told you'd get the boost early on but crash towards the end. Then again I've never been fit enough for international level....

Caffeine has been proven not only to provide mental and physical stimulation, but also to improve endurance. It is also, therefore, very popular with distance athletes (in the right quantities).

Great article Tom. Got my pulse racing by the end...or was it the caffeine?

Do others feel, like me, that it is inappropriate for the England team to have the national athem as their anthem. "God save the Queen" is the national anthem of the UK, not of England. I seem to recall that "Land of hope and glory" is used at the Commonwealth games. Would that not be more appropriate?

I would love to read that same article on the worlds best team...no not Wales...the All Blacks! See how they prepare!

Great blog. Would love to know what the song choices are in the changing room. How do you find out the playlist? Good luck England.

@Flecitur
Ya thats an interesting point you made. In the Olympics sports people from Wales and Scotland stand to their national anthem 'God save the queen' yet when they play team sports like rugby or football they dont. Only England. Is this fair?
God save the queen is Wales and Scotlands real anthem...maybe the players would get more fired up hearing this before a match and not those "made up" anthems they sing?

Excellent blog!

@6 Tom Innes
... a nice illustration of why I took this username. I started playing on the North Notts club circuit at about 3rd team level. A lot of the clubs were miners' teams (a story on its own). One game we were 9-0 up at half time when someone noticed we only had 14 men...at the same game, my wife (due to wearing wellies) was asked to "hold this flag and run up and down that line" which she declined. She ended up with the valuables bag which a touch kick landed on. To round the day off,we had kicked off early to watch England-France afterwards. Their telly broke down before kick off.

I remember in my playeing days I used to annoy captains, as they were snarling and shouting to get everyone fired up I always had a big grin on my face and was shouted at "why are you smiling!" Because I loved to play and I couldn't wait.

I never needed to be aggressive to put my body on the line and run myself to a standstill, it was all fun to me.

Individual pre match rituals are always interesting, didn't Austin Healy make himself sick before a big game?

Again...in complete contrast to the coarse rugby men of legend. Like the grizzled veteran forward to put the fact that he'd scored a try for the first time in years down to taking his preparation more seriously and switching from bitter to mild in the days before the game.

I was fascinated by Alex Corbisiero's (who I rate highly) bit about weighing himself before and after to assess his hydration requirements. You forget just how scientific it has all become. Still, I could see that one catching on...

b = w1 - (w2 - p)/t where

w1 = initial weight
w2 = post-match weight
p = pie (the steak & ale variety)
t = time
...and of course b = beer

31 GM Massingbird

I know what you mean. I eventually fell out with my team captain because I simply refused to go through all his brain-dead rituals of shouting, chest beating and hitting myself about the head. I mean, there are enough people out on the pitch wanting to rough you up without going for the self-inflicted stuff.

Anglophone, Once I passed 26, it did nothing for me, I knew what I was facing, knew I could get hurt, didn't need to drown out the fear of it which most were doing (I think), to me playing was just worth it.

Yeah, it was a good blog. I started feeling more nervous as I read. Nearly retched by the end.
The anthems are great but I always prefer the ones in other languages because I don't understand what they are singing about ;)

Oh the memories flood back!
When playing for my school old boys, our captain was injured, but insisted on staying on the touchline to cheer us on. By the end of the game his ankle was so swollen that his boot had to be cut off and it turned out to be broken.
You don't get devotion like that at higher levels...

@jamesmathew
your proving Ferris's point about the 'bad losers' comment....just kidding ;)

It is a strange one alright. We (Ireland) can't beat France, England can and yet we don't have any fears against England....even back in the bad 90's when England were far superior to us, we managed the odd win.
The problem with the psychology factor is that it is a snow ball effect...the more you lose the harder it is to win. I feasr for us on Saturday though against a young English side with very little baggage. Let's hope it's a cracker!

#36 Similar memories. I remember one game when our tight head was a vet student. Come half time we noticed he had a big gash above his eyebrow through which you could see down to the bone. He refused to go off, though. At the end of the game he just went home and stitched it up himself.

@38 that's tightheads for you...animals

Echo everyone else - really fantastic blog. Would be interesting to see how this compared to other nations' prep for games. Or top level club rugby.

channel4ball, that's us, rael men, not shandy drinkers like the rest of the team, even the Lucy head had a Dash in his Boddingtons.

@18

Yeah, should be OK as he's not playing but I know what you mean.

The caffeine thing is interesting, as when I was playing (up until 2002), we thought caffeine was a bad move, as it's supposed to be a diuretic and act against fluid retention.

To be honest though, at the level we were playing, the majority of the fluid was Friday night beer and I'm not sure what Lancaster and co would make of the pre-match nutrition! I don't think Burger King is involved though.....

Wonderful blog - this is what I want to read about, can we please have a post game one, the first 12 hours after the whilstle, I have always been so fascinated by what happens before and after the 80

That was an excellent read. It has got me even more revved up for Saturday's triple header.

I will however now be keeping an eye out for Foden's muddy boots and hoping the camera gets close enough to let us judge Ben Youngs singing!

@32, Anglophone
This could be the way forward for maths education.
I taught physics at a public school and lived 6 miles away and 600 feet up in the hills. I often cycled to work and calculated that my return trip would burn off the calorific value of 2 pints in the staff bar after school. A worthwhile use of numeracy.

Just thinking back to watching on TV England v Scotland at my local English village pub a few years ago with a Scottish landlord (never did understand more than about 3 out of 10 words he said) but he had moved down to Gods own Country after playing for Scotland A or might have been Scotland B (depended on time left before closing time when he told story!) anyway after the first 40 minutes of every match was over the landlord irrespective of the score would mumble something undecipherable about 'hafe teem erenjees' and appear from behind the bar with a trayful of glasses of Glenfiddich which he most generously handed around to Scots, English and any other nationality watching the destiny of the Calcutta Cup and me by now being very hard of hearing from years of not wearing a scrum cap when I should have, had absolutely no idea that his tray of 'oranges' and mumblings bore any relation to one another!

#46 "he had moved down to Gods own Country" lol England is the Gods country :-) do you see the irony!

England over France
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hmmm, I believe the most important meeting between these two over the last 4 years was the WC match. Im starting to get used to the deluded opinions of some posts on here.

Tom - explain something to me.

If, as you say, the players are back in the dressing room with 45 mins to go. Why are they often seen warming up on the pitch with as little as 10 minutes until KO?

I have a question regarding substitutions.

Quite often in football if a player isnt up to it his manager will pull him off at half time

Players getting pulled off early appears to happen a lot less in Union which seems strange to me given how hard the tackle is in rugby.

So do players have pre-set ritual they start at half time ready for the hour mark, when the manager often decides to make repalcements and remove players irrerespective of performance.

BleuBlancRouge no one said France never beat England, just saying that over the last several encounters England have a good record, in the six nations I think France have won once in 6 seasons. People were commenting that it is odd when two fairly equal teams play each other and one seems to have an upper hand for no discernible reason.

Also Ireland keep beating England but there's not much in it between the teams. Please read the comments before calling us deluded

ya @BleuBlancRouge .... read the post properly before you going making cutting accusations!

Will Scotland beat Italy in Rome?
I hope they do but I honestly dont think they will. Italy showed England what they are like to play in Rome! They are a different team then the one that travels.

The scariest part for me is the kickoff, when your receiving and you don't really kow how hard they going to hit. At least you got the pack to back you up (Y)

Just been checking recent dominance of France over Ireland, Ireland over England, and England over France, to see how real the phenomenon is. It's true that in the last five 6-nations the records are 4-1 for each of the above. Less marked in the last twelve 6-nations where France have 8-4 against Ireland, Ireland have 8-4 against England, and England 7-5 against France.

Great blog Tom as always - you cover cricket and RU very well.

I'd like to see the national anthems either dropped or changed (nobody can keep time time to God Save our Queen).

I think we'd scare the pants off the All Blacks if we sang "Save All Your Kisses for Me" Brotherhood of Man whilst they did the Haka.

I never vomit before matches, but I have done so before big presentations.

Bye, bye, baby, by bye.....

BleuBlancRouge no one said France never beat England, just saying that over the last several encounters England have a good record, in the six nations I think France have won once in 6 seasons. People were commenting that it is odd when two fairly equal teams play each other and one seems to have an upper hand for no discernible reason.

Also Ireland keep beating England but there's not much in it between the teams. Please read the comments before calling us deluded
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You'll have to excuse the english lesson Im about to give you, despite it being my third language and probably your first. The post insinuated that France have a mental block when playing england, and that explains why england have beaten us (slighlty) more than the other way round. It is not a mental block, it is simply losing to a better team in most of those games. some were so close that it could have gone either way and with that the record.

@jamesmatthew

anyone who is insulting enough before a game of rugby to state 'france dont deserve to win' in reference to match against wales is clearly not really a fan of rugby or indeed gets out much.

seems to be a worringly large amount of "fear" in the players. foden saying before a game he visualises dropping the ball and the fear associated with that - why not picturing taking the perfect catch and bombing forward. several players mention the word fear as a motivator and as a preoccupying thought - i find this quite insightful. always seems that england play with more fear than other more positive and expressive teams, england have the players and i have often wondered what the block is when they wear the red rose - so intersting to hear the players admitting to the fear factor associated with playing for england - suspicions confirmed! hope we can change this at some point..... having said that we are perfornming well at the moment and if these pre match rituals and routines help channel energy then keep on doing it lads!

"more positive and expressive teams"

Like France who were out-scored by 3 tries to 1 - and that one was only possible because the French referee wrongly gave the French put-in to a 5 yard scrum.

More insight please buddy - you clearly know your stuff.

well sorry, I'm not sure if it's due to English being your third language or you're being purposefully antagonistic about giving me an 'english lesson', regardless of whether you think it is due to a mental block or just losing to a better side that doesn't mean the people who posted it are deluded just because they have a very slightly differing opinion.

Plus at international level the difference between winning and losing is often mental, so a 'mental block' is poetic way of saying it. It's no real different than saying England is France's bogey team just a different phrase.

You are being very insulting in your posts and I can only assume it's purposeful

BleuBlancRouge
Get a life

bleublancrouge

Take of those tricolor glassses before reading. It's not a language problem as your English seems to be very good

@ simon

when someone seemingly here to talk rugby states and i quote 'france dont deserve to win' before the ball is even kicked off, and then continues with his agenda aginst the french of stating that we have a mental block because we lose to england all the time, is in my book, deluded. perhaps you have a better word for it??

now find in a single one, a single one of my posts, any insult towards any country. if people like jamesmatthews has nothing better to do than continuously belittle my country, then not only will i stand up for it, but i will do without insulting his country, as I clearly know that he doesnt represent his country as a whole. If you want to defend the actions of such a post it is entirely up to you. Frankly Im tired of this anti-french feeling on these rugby boards.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

? how would you like it if i said to you before the france v england game, listen mate your team doesnt deserve to win? how is that in the spirit of the game or competition? to say i dont think you'll win, fair enough, but to go on about how better that anyone wales are and to say you may as well not turn up...

BleuBlancRouge

As ex-President Chirac once said "Ils ont ratΓ© une belle occasion de se taire*.". If you are tired of what you see 'this anti-French feeling', you may seek solace on the comment boards of L'Equipe - a sports newspaper which rarely has a detailed report, less still any detailed preview, of 6 Nations games which don't feature France - in contrast to any of a number of UK broadsheets when it comes to France matches. Nor does the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ have any equivalent of France 2's 'Talent d'Or' - a man of the match award limited only to the French side. I'm not criticising, merely observing that none of us is blameless and if you go to another country's patch you must expect to be invited to see things through their eyes.

By the way, I'm happy to re-write this in my fourth language if you prefer - how's your Turkish? Eh toc!

(*'They missed a great opportunity to keep quiet')

nasilsin

The joys of being able to speak more than one language is to be able to converse with people from those places.
May I just forward you a link to the l'equipe website and you tell me how many non-france rugby articles you see?



Alternatively of course lets not forget that eurosport is woned by TF1, and better than just covering it has an entire website designated to the british public under eurosport.yahoo

BleuBlancRouge - I can understand your point fully. I don't think any insult was intended against France at all by posters here. I remember jamesmatthew saying france didn't deserve to win. I suspect a bit of jingoism and over enthusiasm. I do think England have had the edge on France ever since the '90's when it was normal practice to wind the French up as much as possible courtesy of Brian Moore etc.

How sad.
This was quite enjoyable until it was dragged down into a petty slanging match as seems to happen all too often.
Wish some of you would grow up a bit.

I do think England have had the edge on France ever since the '90's when it was normal practice to wind the French up as much as possible courtesy of Brian Moore etc.
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I have no issue with the fact that england's record against France is better than vice versa, its there for everyone to see. But to state a mental block is quiet simply ridiculous. If we lost those games, its because we lost to a better team in almost every case, some to close to call. Its not a mental block, its saying we are beaten by the better team. If it was a mental block I suspect we would have lost in the WC

@69 BBR I suspect you are probably right. Let's hope your team give 100% on Saturday. It worries me that as there is "nothing to play for" (I disagree there is always something to play for - at least pride in the shirt) they won't be "up for it".

yes, I see what you did there! Im indeed guilty of saying there isnt much to play for. I also hope this is obviously not the case. Maybe the last match of servat and bonnaire will give some players added motivation.

@simonofsurrey

Furthermore there is continuously very interesting articles/blogs/videos of reporting on just the individual nations rather than just a preview of the game. For instance, there is on l'equipe's website a very interesting piece on the three welsh players playing in france. Unfortunately i have as yet been able to find anything on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ on France alone, and not merely a preview of the game or the after game article which is the least required.

BleuBlancRouge

The point is that there were times when England beat France when they weren't the better team based on other results. On the day - yes. But there is a pyschological factor to that (perhapa style of play too). Bogey teams exist in Sport.
forget 'mental block' - it seems to be the expression that's aggravating you...or your mental block, as it were
A former Irish captain once said that Ireland used to lose matches once they stepped off the plane inParis

@ channel4ball

I do not need any reminding thank you!! For me beating England is as satisfying as it gets in rugby (plus the three SH. And as you say england seem to have 'our number'. But for me it is neither domination nore mental. England's style of play is just one we find it hard to get to grip with. We try to beat you as you play, but we cant. A domination against France in rugby? ARgentina, whenever they beat us, my word they dominate us in the whole game too.

I'm not going to go trudging through previous 6 nations results but I'll use 2007 as an example. France beat Ireland at home, Ireland beat England (conviningly) so you would expect France to beat England but they didn't. Rest assured this wasn't an one off either

This guy has knackered this thread.

BRB - I'm Irish. We would still buy V Clerc a pint of Guiness after all the hurt he has cause us ;)
Northern Pub - it's a rugby thread...discussions follow their own course. I think this 'psychological factor' in sport is quite an interesting topic as many others clearly do. Yours is the 75th post...how much more can we say about singing anthems, retching in dressing roooms and pre-match soundtracks?

@channel4ball,

my apologies,
ha, yes, and you know there has never been three players more admired in France in recent years than Carter, O'driscoll and wilkinson

Brilliant Blog Tom. My feet are jangling like they used to in the changing room. Used to buzz off the clamourous sound of the studs on the tiles. No mention of sticking Vics up the nostrils I notice? Bit low tech for these boys I suppose!

Good read, Tom. Stick to Rugby and give the cricket live comments a miss, eh?

For my brother and I, it was always Didier Camberabero (always disgusted when he was dropped). Maybe not up there among the greats...perhaps even largely forgotten but what a brain! The 3 you mentioned you mentioned are undoubtedly class players. Have to throw in Sella and Horan there too

james if you have a problem with land of my fathers you would have really loved the 70s as in those days it wasnt unheard of for god save the queen to be played for wales when they played in paris..or for the welsh anthem not to be played at all.....as happened when wales played at twickenham in 1974...though i suspect that maybe you wouldnt have been too happy in the 70s because wales...a team you appear to have a unhealthy obsessive dislike for..... were doing things like winning 3 grand slams in 8 seasons...hmm...that has a familiar ring to it...wonder why......

All this user's posts have been removed.Why?

Good & interesting blog but would have liked to have also known what the differences are in the dressing room with different pressures i.e. losing runs, press knocking them, RWC games etc
England v Ireland looking to be a great match. I see Ireland really frustrating Eng by playing a great kicking game if we allow their pack to give them the ball on the front foot or we give away too many dumb penalties. Ireland's back row & full back are real class but I think their locks and centres will struggle - especially see Tuilagi v Earls as mis-match of the weekend (as was in Dublin pre RWC) and I think Eng will exploit this ..and win!

England have tended to hold the upper hand over France since the late 1980s, although the head-to-head is reasonably close and each country tends to enjoy 4-5 year stretches of superiority before it changes hands again. France do indeed beat us, but almost never cut loose and destroy us the way they do against almost everyone else, up to and including New Zealand. It kind of goes without saying, but yes, rugby is a highly psychological game and psychology influences all of the rivalries in the international game to a significant degree IMO.

I hope against hope that we can beat Ireland at the weekend. I am tired of losing to them, and what hurts is that the main difference between the teams in recent years seems to be that their players simply have a greater will to win. I don't find this acceptable. Watching the match in Dublin last season, the England players looked as if they would rather be anywhere than on the pitch, and the attitude seemed to be "if you really want it that badly, then you can have it."

There's nothing deep-rooted about this. England have had many, many players with the warrior spirit over the years, but precious few over the last five. I don't ever recall a lack of intensity on England's part during the 1990s or the Woodward era when it came to facing our neighbours, but I certainly have done since then. It's as if nothing is ever learned from our encounters with them, as if everything is forgotten, and their determination to beat us comes as a complete surprise each time. Well it really shouldn't, and if Lancaster (whom I admire tremendously) can do one thing for the England team then I hope that it is to instil a sense that it's not enough to go out and play rugby - we have to FIGHT, and have a genuine desire to beat our opponent from first minute to last. I've had enough of apologetic-looking England teams shuffling around the pitch. Time to play like we really mean it.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

#73, I don't think the England actually do have the upper hand over France - over the last 15 years it has been even, with France winning as many of the big games as England. The only time England had a clear advantage was in the early 90s, when Moore et al seemed to have the ability to get under the skin of the French side.

You could argue that England have probably won quite a few of those games against the odds, but then I can think of quite a few times where England went into Le Crunch as the form side and lost. Interesting thatas an England fan the France game is now the 6N fixture I want England to win above all the others. Scotland always used to be our fiercest rivals, but Scotland have not been as much of a force in recent years. Hopefully they will be back challenging for slams soon, as the NH needs a strong Scottish team.

BleuBlancRouge

Nobody ever beats France .... they just score more points! ;-)

@81 Leighrichards yes 70's teams were great. And yes it does have a familiar ring but you haven't won it yet but I think you will and if so a terrific achievement. What is the real test for me is can this welsh team go on and start winning some games against SH teams. Despite many new dawns for welsh rugby their record against SH has been woefull. Does that have a familiar ring..........!

On a 1970's note and slightly off-topic (vomiting, slanging etc) it's sad to hear of the death of Mervyn Davies. I remember him as a great player and one of the very best No.8s. I even recall the bizarre sight of him suffering a brain hemorrhage mid-game...simply collapsing while running at full speed. He was incredibly lucky to have medical personnel and equipment to hand.

...now back to the fun!

I too thought the blog really insightful, and educational.

One small point though for

#58 18:09 15th Mar 2012, Northern_Pub_Tours who wrote:

"Like France who were out-scored by 3 tries to 1 - and that one was only possible because the French referee wrongly gave the French put-in to a 5 yard scrum.

More insight please buddy - you clearly know your stuff."

For the record, in the 74th minute the ball was held up on the England line just after Dowson was injured in faling on the ball and getting a crack on the head from the French attacker. (I've just watched the replay on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer).

Just so you are properly informed Northern_Pub_Tours, first the Mr Rolland is Irish (with French ancestors) and second, the laws say that if the ball is held up (ie, not grounded) in-goal, it's a scrum, attacking side ball.

I guess you might say "More insight please, buddy, you clearly DON'T know YOUR stuff"

Enjoy the matches tomorrow everyone!

Ruref.....still three ties to one buddy. It would've been 3-0 if the French ref wasn't crap. Keep talking soldier.

Northern_Pub_Tours

The ref was Irish, and the French try came from a properly awarded scrum. I grant you on the day England made the most of their limited possession and territory, but there are so many games which have been won (and lost) in similar circumstances

If you were at least mildly acquainted with the laws of the game, you'd appreciate that the referee was correct, whatever nationality he happened to be.

Do you/have you ever played/refereed? And if you have at what sort of level?

Ruref

Help? Please advise where I can find out who are the match officials for today's 3 games? From recent experience this could be the biggest deciding factor!

Ruref - I thought the ref (useless he was whatever nationality) blew up for safety reasons as he saw Dowson lying flat out. If a ref blows up for safety reasons what determines who gets the put in? I don't know. Please enlighten me if you are able. Much obliged.

Interesting view of the team pre-match. A can of Red Bull though? The mind boggles - surely a john barnes lucozade isotonic and a pro plus tablet would do the job better?

Hoping for more from England's wingers this game, although I have a feeling they'll have to go looking for the ball because I dont think it will find its way to them.

The France game was good, particularly the first half when England were playing a more direct attacking game (admittedly helped by the French tactics) I think if they're to make an impact on the Irish they'll have to play a similarly attacking game - but they have to sort out the numbers and tactics at the breakdown or they will consistently lose ball and have the line broken.



Wales to lose to France by ten points and England to win against Ireland by four....

The ireland hoo-doo is a bit odd but england did beat them prior to the world cup during the warm ups.
did a bit of research and if my maths is right its only ireland and the kiwis that have beaten england more times than england have beaten the other teams .
i wondered whether players ave some sort of ritual for each team they face

as England have done well or beaten the Aussies quite a few times do they prepare differently against them than ireland for instance who they havent done so well against.
As for the Caffiene energy drinks" user beware ,remember what happened to Will from the inbetweeners when he consumed too much before a big test !!!!

record is recent results since 2000 that is .